Build Me Up
by vindictive kitty
Summary: She doesn’t think that she’s seen him this sloshed since he took her to the Yule Ball fourth year and drank several too many goblets of punch. Punch, which incidentally, had been spiked by the Weasley twins.' SeamusLavender


**A/N: **This is a companion piece to 'Lavender Brown, Queen of All Issues of the Heart.' You don't have to read one to understand the other. This takes place during their seventh year.

**Disclaimer: **_Harry Potter _belongs to JK Rowling. The lyrics to Build Me Up Buttercup aren't mine either. And yes, I know what the song means. And no, there is no particular reason that Seamus is singing it.

**Spoilers: **_Half-Blood Prince_

**Summary: **She doesn't think that she's seen him this sloshed since he took her to the Yule Ball fourth year and drank several too many goblets of punch. Punch, which incidentally, had been spiked by the Weasley twins. Seamus/Lavender.

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**Build Me Up**

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Lavender walked silently through the darkened halls, making her way back to Gryffindor Tower. She didn't bother to stick to the shadows anymore, in constant fear of being found by Mrs. Norris. Ever since Filch had been killed, nobody bothered to police the halls anymore.

Nothing was the same anymore. How could it be? Dumbledore was dead. Well…a lot of people were dead now. Lavender realized that a lot more would be gone before the end of this year. Harry, Ron and Hermione came and went like transients, and suddenly the school felt more like a train station than a home.

Hogwarts was a shell of its former self. The student body had been cut in half. Teachers and students alike were only half there during lessons.

And yet Lavender along with many others had fought their worried families for the right to return seventh year.

She wanted to be there when it ended. She was scared, so scared of death. But when it came, she didn't want it to be her and her family frozen for eternity under the ghostly green of a Darkmark.

Somebody should burn. For what had been done to the world. To them. And she wanted to help, even though she knew that at the sight of real death, her own death, her knees would buckle and she'd heave the contents of her stomach all over the ground.

But she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing, you know.

Lavender started at the sound of a loud, dissonant noise coming her way. As the strains came closer and louder, her face screwed up in disbelief. Was that—?

"WHY DO YOU BUILD ME UP, BUILD ME UP, BUTTERCUP, BABY JUST TO LET ME DOWN, LET ME DOWN? OHHH…"

Lavender stood with her hands on her hips as a stumbling figure drew closer. "Oh, Merlin, Seamus?"

She doesn't think that she's seen him this sloshed since he took her to the Yule Ball fourth year and drank several too many goblets of punch. Punch, which incidentally, had been spiked by the Weasley twins. That _had _been a pretty good night.

But what in the world was he supposed to be singing? Aside from having no idea what the lyrics meant, Lavender thought he sounded like a drowning cat. It was very unpleasant.

Despite the ungodly sounds coming out of Seamus's mouth, or maybe because of them, Lavender's lips quirked up in a smile.

She remembers how angrily Seamus had stood up to his mother when she tried to make him leave Hogwarts. How he had attended Dumbledore's funeral and managed to come back for his seventh year. Lavender wasn't really sure how he convinced his parents to let him return. But she's sure that whatever he said was good.

And she's surprised that this is the first time she's found him in a drunken stupor. She thought that after…

He disappeared. Gone, assumed dead by almost everyone. Of course, Seamus doesn't believe that.

Dean Thomas, with his footballing pictures that can't move, Merlin bless him, couldn't be dead. He's coming back. Any day now.

"Seamus?" she calls softly.

His eyes are slightly unfocused but they light up as Lavender walked swiftly towards him. "Lav….Lavender. Hey, Lav!"

Lavender does her best not to roll her eyes as she grabs his arm to keep him from wobbling all over. It suddenly strikes her how strange it is. Strange, that of all the boys in this school that she's kissed, Seamus has never been one of them. Not when he awkwardly patted her on the back at the end of the Yule Ball, and certainly not during the rest of their years.

If Seamus was sober right now, he would be cursing himself for bellowing such an unmanly song at the top of his lungs. He'd be cursing Aunt Mertie for ever introducing him to muggle music. And then he'd get pissed all over again to forget that he didn't know who to curse for taking away Dean.

"Come on" Lavender told him quietly. "I'll bring you back to Gryffindor tower." She wondered whether he had been in the kitchens, for they weren't allowed off the grounds anymore. Perhaps a house elf took pity on him? Lavender had been in the library. Imagine, the self-proclaimed airhead sneaking into the restricted section after hours.

The war changes everything.

"No, no. Don't wanna go back" he murmured heavily into her ear. "Don't wanna go back."

"Shh. Don't worry" she whispered back softly. Something inside of her felt slightly sick for lying to him like this. He was so yielding and trusting and she definitely was taking him back to Gryffindor tower.

Then they're standing outside of the Fat lady's portrait. She's snoring lightly and now Lavender can't help but stare at Seamus. They're enveloped by a soft blue glow, and she realizes that he's pale, so translucent, and why didn't she notice before?

"Thank you" he tells her.

Lavender doesn't answer. "Brigadoon" she tells the fat lady, who opens her eyes groggily before swinging the door open.

Seamus stands at the threshold looking confused. "Here." Lavender grabs his warm forearm and hoists him through the door. He's staring at her again.

Feeling slightly lightheaded, she leans over and kisses him on the cheek. His breath is warm on the side of her face and he smells like earth and firewhiskey.

Seamus pats her on the back.

"Goodnight" she tells him and directs him towards the Boys' Dormitory.

She sits on the couch and stares at the dying embers of a fire. Tomorrow, Seamus will wake up and remember nothing and tomorrow she'll help him search for Dean.

She's not a Gryffindor for nothing, you know.

**The End.**

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End file.
